Episode 4 - Mildred Thabeng, Kanya Makabane and Sinebhongo Mbula

Mzantsi Wakho Podcast

Revelations and challenges within the qualitative team, by Mildred Thabeng, Kanya Makabane and Sinebhongo Mbula Mildred Thabeng is from Pretoria, and is currently based in the Eastern Cape as a senior research assistant on the Mzantsi Wakho study. After finishing high school, Mildred moved to the Eastern Cape to study social work at UNISA, while volunteering at the Keiskamma Trust (an NGO that works in the rural area of Hamburg). Between 2012 and 2013, Mildred collaborated with Beth Vale, an Mzansti Wakho qualitative researcher who completed her doctorate in 2015, researching medicines-taking among adolescents. Mildred has worked within both the qualitative and quantitative components of the Mzantsi Wakho study. She has collaborated with Rebecca Hodes since 2014, focusing on sexual and reproductive health among adolescents, and more broadly on the lived experiences of teenagers, their caregivers, and their healthcare workers, spanning the decades of South Africa’s democratic transition. Mildred has copious experience in conducting ethnographic research, including focus groups, participatory exercises, and observations. Her future plans include studying for a degree in the Humanities, and working within the field of research and development. Kanya Makabane was born in Mdantsane, a township near to the city of East London in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. He studied Marketing at tertiary education level, and has worked periodically in business. In 2014, Kanya began working for Mzantsi Wakho as a community guide, and was soon promoted to the position of research assistant. From 2014-2015, he worked within both the qualitative and quantitative research teams, conducting copious interviews and observations with study participants. In 2018, Kanya rejoined the project as a research assistant. He conducts interviews and focus groups, and spends a great deal of time on transcription. He also manages the field budget, in collaboration with other colleagues. Speaking about his work within the project, Kanya says: ‘Mzantsi Wakho has brought some fresh air into my life, and reignited the passion I have for people. Sinebhongo is from King William’s Town and joined Mzantsi Wakho in March 2017 after being fully trained in ‘electrical infrastructure’. Sinebhongo works in both the King WIlliams Town and East London study sites, playing a key role in qualitative and quantitative data collection. In the future, Sinebhongo was planning to return the electrical infrastructure, but is now enjoying the project so much that he may want to change gears.